Trizivir once a day

Jan 18, 2003

I am just starting a medical studay that my doctor is participating in. It is taking Trizivir once a day (taking the two pills at once). My big question with this is, will this increase the side effects of the drug or the chances of having a reaction. It had been suggested to me by one of her nurses to start off taking it as normally prescribed for the first few days just to get used to it, and so far all I deal with is a slight stomach cramp. I am just very concerned about the chances of increasing the side effect or chance of a reaction, seeing how I have been prone to have reactions to antibiotics in the past.

Response from Dr. Young

Thanks for your question.

There are a few studies underway to evaluate once-daily Trizivir- most are in the early stages.

If your taking Trizivir as part of a study, then the dosing frequency will be determined by the study protocol. Indeed, one of the objectives of the study, I'm sure is exactly to see what side effects are seen. That said, of the three drugs in Trizivir, one is currently approved to be dosed once-daily (3TC), one is actively investigated as a once-daily drug (abacavir) and the last, AZT is just beginning programs to evaluate once-daily dosing.

One might expect that some of the acute side effects of medications to be increased with the increased amount of drug administered in a once-daily regimen-- for AZT, this might (but only speculative) result in an increased amount of nausea or headaches, for example. Remember, that not everyone who takes the medication has these effects, and that there is no relationship between antibiotics and antiretroviral medications-- hence, reactions to one class of medications does not imply that there will be reactions to another.

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